CoG: Obsidian Fox
by NorthSouthGorem
Summary: AU, based on Silvdra-zero's challenge(s). Born and raised in the Japan of 2046, Naruto hears about a mysterious program known as Brain Burst. His sister knows what it is, but until he gets fast enough to play, she's not telling. With dreams of another life, Naruto enters the Accelerated World. A chronicle of the Gormim.


AN: Alright. So, I really want to write this story. However, there are also a number of other stories that are, so to speak, higher priority. Therefore, I will most likely not devote as much time to this as some of you might like. But anyways, here the first chapter of my first challenge-fic.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Accel World.

"Speech"  
Text/System  
_Thoughts_  
**Distorted voice**  
**Special Move/Enhanced Armament/Command**

Chapter 1: Prerequisites (Welcome)

The year was 2040. Nearly thirteen years years prior, a new piece of technology had been created that revolutionized social media. The Neuro Linker: a collar-like device that connected wirelessly to the brain and allowed for the use of AR (Augmented Reality) in everyday life. It could be used to make calls, search the internet and play games using nothing more than the user's mind and body movements. Of course, one could use it to engage VR (Virtual Reality) as well, but that was hardly news; VR had been available for almost two decades. However, in the previous year rumors had popped up of a new game for the Neuro Linker. In order to even install the program, in fact, one had to have worn a Neuro Linker practically since birth. This illusive game was known as Brain Burst 2039.

"Oi, Onee-chan." Uzumaki Tomori, who was lying on her bed lost in thought, jerked as the voice of her younger brother sounded in her eardrums. She rolled over to scowl irritably at Naruto, her dirty look mirrored in his wide blue eyes as he leaned over her.

"What?" she asked grumpily.

"What're you doin'?"

Tomori rolled over, putting her back to him. "None of your business!"

Unfortunately, that did not deter her curious brother and he leaned over to look at her face. "You're being rude," he told her reproachfully.

Eyebrow twitching, the blond girl was sorely tempted to test the limits of the censoring program that their mother had put on Naruto's Neuro-linker. Such programs, normally administered by concerned parents, caused the recipient to hear only a loud beep instead of a curse. Of course, Naruto hated the sound with a passion and would likely put up a fuss, which would make Kushina get on Tomori's case for swearing in front of him. So instead, all that escaped her mouth was a growled, "Get out of my face." Naruto did so, only to crawl over her and lie down on the bed with her. "Get off of my _bed."_

"Hey, Nee-chan."

"_What?"_ Her face was starting to turn red from anger.

The boy leaned in towards her, only for her to shove him away with a snarl. "Ow, jeez I just want to ask you a question!"

He winced as a series of loud, high-pitched beeps assaulted his hearing. In between them, he could hear his older sister inquiring as to what the hell he wanted to know. Once she was done, Naruto asked, "What's 'Burst Link?'"

Tomori's flushed face suddenly paled. "N-nothing!" she said, rolling over to avoid his blue gaze, "Where'd you hear about something like that?"

"I heard you say it," he said blithely, not buying her lie for a minute, "It sounds like some cool command. What's it for?"

This time the older sister kept her curses inside her head. Even though he was only six, Naruto was a total technology nut. To him, a device like the Neuro-linker was pure awesome, and any new feature he could discover or learn about was just as great. However… "Yeah," sighed Tomori finally relenting and sitting up to face him, "It's a command. But you need a special game in order to use it, called Brain Burst."

Naruto's sapphire eyes widened and a totally excited grin spread over his face. "Brain Burst? What's that? Is it fun?"

"Um…y-yeah, I guess," she replied without thinking. Then she blinked and corrected herself. "Wait, I mean of course it is! Do you think I'd play a game that wasn't fun?"

He shrugged. "Well, you've got all those boring puzzle games on your Neuro-"

"They're not boring, you little creep! You're just too dumb to beat them-ttebashi!"

That instantly got Naruto's temper up. "Who're you calling dumb, dattebayo?! It's not my fault I'm slow at games!"

It was true that whenever they played games together (not that often), Naruto was liable to just completely blow it and get his ass handed to him (much more often) by Tomori.

The girl in question sighed. "Well, unfortunately, it doesn't matter if you're to blame or not. Brain Burst won't even install unless you're good at VR stuff. At _least_ as good as me!"

A game that you couldn't play without being good at VR games? _What kind of game is it?_ the boy wondered, _And what does 'Burst Link' have to do with it?_ Naruto leaned in, putting his face almost nose-to-nose with his sister's. "Hey Nee-chan. I wanna play Brain Burst. Give me a copy."

"No way," said Tomori instantly, "I've only got one copy to give out, and you're so slow that it'll fail for sure! If you wanna play so bad, get better at other games first! Then we'll talk."

Naruto's face fell. It would be hard work for sure, trying to improve his playing. Then his expression became determined. "Do you promise?" he asked seriously, "'Cause I'll do it. I'll train myself so much that you'll get left in the dust! So don't give that copy to anyone else, alright?"

For once, Tomori kept silent as she stared at her younger brother. She wanted to tell him that it was no use, that his brain speed reaction was just too low, but she didn't. _He_ does_ keep his promises,_ she thought grudgingly, thinking back. Despite being a bundle of energy and annoyingly cheerful, Naruto always became serious when it came to making a promise.

According to Kushina, he got it from his father.

Not only that, but he was promising to become faster. And after all, what was Brain Burst about, if not exploring such potential? She sighed, then laughed. "If you screw up, I won't forgive you. But yeah, I promise not to give my copy of Brain Burst to anyone but you."

Beaming, Naruto gave her a hug, and promptly left the room.

_Leave me in the dust, huh?_ Thought Tomori as she lay back on her bed, gazing at the ceiling, _Well, rather than that, you might just accelerate beyond everyone in the Accelerated World._ "…But it'll take more than just training to beat me!" she finished aloud.

"**Unlimited Burst!"**

[Six years later]

As he walked through the gate of Umesato Middle School, Uzumaki Naruto was greeted by a hearty slap on the back. "Ohayō, Naru-kun!" said a loud voice rang out in his ear. It belonged to a grinning girl with short brown hair, a white cat-shaped pin holding it back on the left. She was his height and slender, her skin slightly tanned from spending time outdoors. Her name was Kurashima Chiyuri, and she was a childhood friend of Naruto's.

"Oh, hey Chiyu-chan," he greeted, smiling slightly. Then he frowned, "Actually, stop shortening my name, damn it! It's already short enough without you chopping off its 'to.'"

"No way," she refused, smiling impishly, "It's the theme of our group!"

Irritated, the blond grunted and looked away. It was true that within their small circle of friends, calling each other by the first two syllables of their names was more or less the norm. However Naruto, who was quite proud of the name his parents had given him, stubbornly insisted that they not do so with him. 'They,' of course, just meant Chiyuri, who had of course started the whole trend.

A shout from behind them made them turn around. Running towards them was a particularly short, fat boy with brown hair and wide eyes by the name of Arita Haruyuki. He stopped in front of them, breathing heavily, and said, "G-good morning, Chiyu-chan, N-Naruto."

"Ossu!"

"Hey Haru," Naruto replied, grinning. Among all of his friends (few though there were), Haru was Naruto's closest one. The reason was relatively simple; both of them absolutely loved games.

For the past six years, Naruto had become a total video game fanatic. Hardly a day went by without him immersing himself in the virtual world, playing on harder and harder difficulties. In certain VRMMORPGs (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), he was known as the 'Level-Grinding Maelstrom,' simply because of how long he would stay in one area, continually killing monsters and the like. To the lower level-players, he was an expert on the early dungeons, always willing to give advice to new players. The higher level ones regarded him with a mixture of derision and more than a little shock. With how long he would play, the sheer level of repetition would drive any other player crazy.

Of course, the fact that he would consistently thrash them in PvP was somewhat embarrassing to them.

In various adventure games, he would play over and over to get a complete one hundred percent on the whole thing, with fervor that bordered on obsessive.

However, it wasn't completion that Naruto played for. It was the abilities. No matter the genre, what thrilled Naruto the most about the Virtual world was the fact that his Avatar would always have certain special abilities. Of course, these abilities were programmed into the system, so there was nothing odd about that. Nevertheless, nothing gave him greater pleasure than to do a Full Dive and become a warrior capable of slaughtering any number of enemies. Whether it was a soldier, a swordsman, a fist-fighter or something else entirely, Naruto would soak up the skills of each and every character he could play, endlessly repeating attacks and combos in order to commit them to muscle memory.

Because of this mania, however, the number of friends Naruto had in real life could quite literally be counted on one hand with fingers left over. Whenever he was forced to come back to reality, he would feel heavier, much slower than before. Then he would remember his promise to his sister and renew it, throwing himself back into VR. It got to the point where his mother, worried about how obsessed he was becoming, placed a time constraint on him. Until he turned ten, Naruto was only allowed to play for a set amount of time each day.

During those tortuous years, Naruto met Haru and was delighted to learn that the chubby boy loved games as much as he did, and they quickly bonded over talking about the latest game one of them had gotten. Then, however, Naruto was shocked to discover something: despite being a meatball in real life, Haru was actually good in the virtual world. Like, _really_ good. As a result, he and Naruto frequently got into the habit of competing with each other in the same game.

It was there that Naruto saw just how far his training had gotten him. While his sister, in his youth, had been a much better player than him (and he'd sucked majorly), Haru was just as good, if not better than her. In their frequent clashes, more often than not Naruto came out on the bottom. To be more specific, he had about a one in three chance of beating Haru whenever it came to gaming.

Rather than become downtrodden at those stats, Naruto only became more determined. He decided that until he could beat Haru three times in a row, no matter what game it was, he wouldn't ask his sister for her Brain Burst copy. _But,_ he thought to himself, _that doesn't mean I can wait any longer. I need to do it soon!_

As they milled through the hallways with the other students, Naruto caught sight of a tall boy with blond hair and scowled. Despite towering over a majority of his classmates, Araya was in fact in the same class as him and Haru, much to the latter's misfortune. For the past few months, Haru had been forced to do all sorts of menial tasks for the brutish boy, such as buying them food with his own money. Both Chiyuri and Naruto were aware of the bullying and hated it with all their hearts. Naruto in particularly had to suppress the urge to rip Araya a new asshole every time he called Haru a pig, but the round boy stubbornly refused help. The blond had to admit, his friend's ability to withstand torment in silence was admirable, but it didn't make it any less frustrating to watch the bullying from the sidelines.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Haru shrinking in on himself. It seemed that he had seen Araya too. Naruto sighed. He really wanted to help his friend, badly, but the chubby boy remained firm in his demand that his friends not interfere. "It'll only make things worse," he told them, and Naruto could grudgingly see his point. But that didn't mean he liked it.

An idea occurred to the Uzumaki. Perhaps he could fulfill his need for a challenge and cheer Haru up at the same time. "Hey Haru," he muttered into his friend's ear, "Wanna go a few rounds of Squash at lunch?"

Haru looked up at his friend in surprise, then smiled weakly. "Ah…sure. But I thought you didn't like games like that, Naruto."

"Me?" Naruto asked in fake shock, "Not like a game? Are you feeling well Haru? I'll play anything, especially if it means a Full Dive."

A strong hand suddenly gripped his ear and he winced. "Oi, Naru-kun," growled Chiyuri, "Don't drag Haru into any of your crazy competitions before he gets anything to eat, yeah?"

"I got it, I got it! Jeez, you sound like my mother."

Haruyuki chuckled nervously as his two friends bickered. If he didn't know that Chiyu was already dating their other friend, Mayuzumi Takumu, he might have thought they sounded like an old married couple.

[Later, in class]

Naruto fidgeted in his seat as class dragged on. While he was in fact very good at paying attention to things, the Uzumaki always found his mind wandering to whatever game he was looking forward to playing. In this case, Squash. _Today's gonna be the day,_ he decided to himself, _If I beat Haru today, I'm gonna go to 'that' world with Nee-chan._

A quiet sniggering to his right made him glance over surreptitiously. It was Araya and his gang, leering at Haru behind his back. As he watched, Haru suddenly looked up, as if seeing something. _Must be something on his AR display,_ he thought. True enough, Haru tentatively reached out to touch a point in the air, only to jump back with a small yelp, then look back at Araya with an expression of fear. Naruto clenched his fist under the desk and gritted his teeth, seething. _Bastard!_ he thought furiously, _If it weren't for the Social Cameras and my promise to Haru, I'd show you exactly whose friend you're messing with!_

But of course, he was in class, so he couldn't actually say anything like that.

About ten minutes later the lunch bell rang. As he and his goons left, Araya smirked in Haru's direction, his eyes promising only pain if he were disappointed. Half-heartedly, Haruyuki murmured, "I need to go somewhere. I'll-I'll meet you at the Squash court in twenty minutes."

"Got it," Naruto replied darkly, his narrowed eyes boring into the bully's back.

When the blond got to the cafeteria, he found Chiyuri carrying a large picnic basket. He knew instantly it was for Haru and felt a pang of admiration for the girl. While he could only seethe and rage silently at his friend's plight, Chiyu was actively trying to lighten his mood. The most he could do was try and help Haru take his mind off of it with playing.

"Did Araya call him out again?" she asked sadly.

Naruto only grunted, his face a mask of pure irritation.

Chiyu sighed. "Honestly. Why doesn't Haru-kun tell a teacher? With all I've heard about Araya, he'd get suspended in an instant!"

"Yeah," he agreed grimly, "But suspension is only temporary. And once he got back, Araya would be mad as hell and he'd probably know who to blame. Haru wouldn't be able survive if that happened. What needs to happen is for that Mandrill to get kicked out altogether."

Chiyu stifled a laugh at the insulting nickname. "By the way, aren't you gonna play that Squash game with Haru?"

"Yeah." Naruto sat down at an empty table. "I guess Haru will be able to enjoy those sandwiches afterward. **Direct Link!"**

Instantly the world dropped away from the blond as his Neuro Linker severed his five senses and connected him to the school's virtual network. To him, it felt as if he were falling down a bottomless hole, with darkness all around. Beneath him, a light appeared, growing larger until it completely drove away the black.

Naruto opened his eyes to see a scene that wouldn't be out of place in a fantasy RPG. Large toadstool houses, gnarled trees, and even warriors and fairies walking around. The latter were the Avatars of various students who had logged on as well. Looking down at himself and snorting, he muttered, "And then there's me, the spring man." Indeed, the limbs of Naruto's avatar were made of giant, coiled springs, which creaked and twanged as he moved. His torso was also made of tightly spiraled metal, which made him look like a caricature of a muscular model. Amongst the armored warriors, archers and whatnot, Naruto's downright weird form stood out like…well, like a broken spring in a mattress. _Not my fault I like spirals,_ he thought, shrugging with a creak.

He stepped off the large tree-stump that served as the log-in point and started walking. The sight of his unusual Avatar drew a few looks, but his presence was more or less common in the school network, due to his VR obsession.

A distant squealing caused him to look over. A gaggle of female Avatars were swarming over a particular one, though not directly touching her. Though he was too far away to hear properly, Naruto could tell they were complimenting the girl in question on her design choice. And as she came into focus, Naruto found himself agreeing somewhat. She had extremely pale skin and long black hair, and a slender figure clad in what looked like a darkly colored butterfly costume and carrying a parasol. All these details put together resulted in a surprisingly ethereal, delicate appearance that Naruto knew must have taken quite a bit of design to pull off. Granted, from what he'd heard, the girl in question wasn't too different from her Avatar in looks. The Student Council Vice-president, known only as Kuroyukihime, was among the most popular of girls in Umesato Middle, both for her intelligence and her dignified beauty.

That said, she wasn't really Naruto's type, but as he walked past the crowd, she caught his eye and smiled wryly as if to say, 'what can you do?'

Snorting, he continued on, immediately spotting an inconspicuous 'building' sitting on the corner of the street. At first glance, it looked rather like a large, squat tree, although too cuboid to actually be one. All things considered, it looked quite plain, which was probably why most people never came near it. After all, why bother with a boring game like Squash?

As he approached the doorway, Naruto's ears picked up the sounds of a ball being struck repeatedly and rapidly. _Is he here already?_ he thought in surprise, _How long has he been going, if it's that fast?_

Entering, he stopped dead in absolute shock, staring into the darkened court. Haruyuki's Avatar, a cartoonish anthropomorphic pig, was darting and leaping all over the small room with a speed that belied his small, pudgy body, striking the glowing Squash ball with a racket. Naruto noted with some alarm that the ball had already turned red, meaning that Haru had been playing for quite a while. It was zigzagging, whirling and flying erratically, but it was still unable to escape the blur that was Haru, who angrily sent it against the back wall each time.

Naruto gulped as his friend practically flew all over the room. If Haru were offered that Brain Burst game, he often thought, he would succeed in installing it without a doubt. Looking at the front wall, where the High-Scores were, the springy Avatar almost fell over in shock. "L-Level 149?!" he croaked in disbelief. Indeed, Haru's level had already risen beyond the triple digits, and his score was in the millions. "Give me a break," he groaned, "That's just not fair…"

As the number suddenly changed to Level 150, however, Haru gave a cry of dismay as he just missed the ball. Naruto looked around as his smaller friend fell to the ground, panting as the ball vanished in a cloud of pixels. "Oh…hey Naruto," he panted, large letters spelling out the words 'GAME OVER' behind him.

"Hey," the VR fanatic replied listlessly, staring. Then he recovered and snapped, "My ass! Geez Haru, at least lose at a reasonable level! How am I supposed to beat you now?"

The pig rubbed the back of his head, chuckling nervously. "S-sorry. I was just mad at Araya and got carried away."

"Can't blame you for that," Naruto admitted grudgingly. He sighed and picked up the racket, walking to the middle of the room, "Let me guess: the Mandrill asked for something that you couldn't deliver, then blamed you when you couldn't do it."

"Yes, he did!" Haru exclaimed frustratedly, miming strangling someone, "I mean, what's wrong with getting chocolate milk over strawberry milk, you damn baboon! Put the blame on the people who bought all of it before me!" He hung his head, "…Is what I want to say, but saying that in the real world is absolutely impossible."

_Not in front of Araya, anyway,_ Naruto thought. He turned to the back wall and gripped his racket tightly. **"Start game!"** The glowing ball materialized in front of the back wall, hovering briefly. As Naruto waited, it suddenly shot towards him. With a cry, he leaped forwards to meet it, swinging his racket.

Twelve minutes later, Naruto hit the ground with a crash, the ball bouncing innocently next to his head before vanishing. 'GAME OVER' flashed before his eyes as he lay there panting, as if mocking him. "How'd I do?" he asked his friend without sitting up.

"Ah. Level 152."

His springs creaked loudly as he sat bolt upright. "Seriously?! I beat you? Hell yeah!"

"Hey! No need to gloat so much," the pig deadpanned morosely at him.

Naruto just laughed. "Heheh, sorry, sorry. Well, if it's a consolation, Chiyu-chan's got a nice picnic basket with your name on it."

Haru looked up, hopeful, only stop and hang his head. "W-well, it's probably for Taku anyway. I couldn't-"

"Oh don't start that shit again! It's definitely for you, Haru! Even if she's not your girlfriend, a friend can still give food to a friend!"

"Oh my," said a light voice. Both boys looked over and saw a dark silhouette against the bright doorway. Naruto recognized the butterfly-shape of Kuroyukihime and blinked in surprise, while Haru let out a sound like a deflating balloon and froze up, staring with wide eyes at the elegant girl before him. She, however, was looking at the scoreboard. "I've never seen scores this absurdly high before," she said lightly, "Which one of you did these?"

Naruto pointed wordlessly at Haru in an instant. "He did."

"Did he now?" she asked, smiling fondly at the blushing Avatar, "Though I notice you yourself just beat him."

He gave a noisy shrug. "It's not a common thing. Seriously, he's a genius at this stuff; I gotta bust my ass to get past him. He's a total speed demon!"

"D-don't talk about me as if I'm not here, please!" Haru squawked, blushing darkly. Even after having a friend like Naruto, who was rather free with compliments on his prowess, for many years, Haru still had trouble accepting them.

Kuroyukihime chuckled and brushed a strand of hair away with a slender, gloved hand. "My apologies, Haruyuki-san. But…a speed demon, you say? As it so happens, I'm looking for someone like that."

That got Naruto's attention. _No…it can't be, can it? Could she be talking about…_ Only one thing came to his mind when the word 'speed' was mentioned. _It's probably a coincidence._

"Er," the second-year coughed, looking slightly embarrassed, "Yes, well, I wasn't actually expecting to say this to more than one person, but…" She walked over to Haru, her shoes clacking loudly against the hard floor. Finally, she knelt before the tiny porcine figure and held out her black-gloved hand. "Tell me," she said grandly, "Would you like to Accelerate even further?"

Naruto froze, halfway to the door to give Haru and his senpai privacy. "So that's it," he muttered to himself. He turned around and gave his friend a wide grin. "Oi, Haru! You should listen to what Senpai has to say, I think. A gift like that only comes once in a while!" Before either of them could ask what he meant, he Commanded, **"Link Out."**

He opened his eyes, still sitting in a chair in the cafeteria. Groaning, Naruto pushed himself to his feet, arching his back to relieve his aching spine.

"How'd it go?" asked Chiyu, who was sitting next to him and looking rather board.

Flopping back into the chair, he smiled and said, "I won."

The brunette's eyes widened. "Eh?! R-really? But you never beat Haru?"

"Oi," he growled, "That's not true. I _almost_ never beat him. Today was a good day for me." His expression brightened as he remembered his promise. Finally, after all those years, he would learn the secret behind the mysterious Brain Burst. _And if I was right about Kuroyukihime-senpai, Haru might end up with it too,_ he thought eagerly. "Ah, by the way Chiyu, we ran into Kuroyukihime on the School Network. She wanted to talk to Haru in person."

"Eh? The Vice-President?" Chiyuri spared the basket next to her chair a glance. "To think that Haru would talk to her. I bet he's pinching himself sore, trying to wake up from the dream."

Naruto snorted, but didn't disagree. "There he is." He spotted Haru crossing the cafeteria, looking nervous. "Oh boy," muttered to blond, watching as Haru stopped in front of the second-year lounge, shuffling his feet anxiously, "He's stuck."

Chiyu was muttering irritably, "Haru hates crowds. Why'd she call him out here?"

"She was either here the whole time or she doesn't know Haru's personality," he said simply, shrugging, "Take your pick. Ah- she's invited him in." Now he was standing up, watching as his portly friend sat down at a small table with the school's most popular girl. For some reason, Naruto could only laugh at the scene. "Jeez, this is like one of those dating sims! All that needs to happen now is-" He broke off, his eyes widening. "Whoa."

"What is it?" asked Chiyu, slightly impatient.

Naruto blinked. "She just…made a Direct Wired Connection with Haru." A Direct Wired Connection, like the name suggested, was a state in which two people connected their Neuro Linkers with a physical cable. In such a connection, the two people could freely communicate without being overheard. On the other hand, the connection also rendered most firewalls useless, so it required a lot of trust on either end. Because of that, it was considered a highly intimate act, usually reserved for family members or couples.

"…EH?!"

The blond flinched under the sudden shout and sat down abruptly. "Jeez, don't yell! She just Directly connected with him; don't know why or how." _Actually, I think I know why,_ he thought privately.

The brunette frowned darkly, crossing her arms as she stared straight ahead. "I don't like it," she said, "There's no way a girl like her would suddenly take interest in Haru enough to do that…"

"Maybe she's got something to say that shouldn't be said out loud," Naruto suggested, rolling his eyes, "You know, since everybody's no doubt looking at the two of them."

"Muu…" Chiyuri growled under her breath.

Snorting, the blond looked back at the second-year lounge. However, as they were now connected, he couldn't see if they were talking or not.

"ARITA!" A raucous shout broke through the quiet, murmuring atmosphere of the cafeteria. Naruto whipped around to see Araya and his group storming up to the lounge, the blond looking furious. "How dare you squeal on me, you dickwad!" Everyone fell silent as they looked at the bully. Haru, still connected to Kuroyukihime, let out a moan of fear, his round eyes wide.

Before the action even registered with the blond, he'd leapt to his feet, his chair scraping loudly across the floor. Chiyuri seized his arm to stop him from charging to Haru's aid. "Wait!" she hissed, "I don't like it either, but you can't do anything with the Social Cameras watching! You'll get in trouble."

Naruto gave an inarticulate snarl at her, before her words suddenly registered. "…W-wait a second…" he said, looking at Haru, "If the Social Cameras are here…doesn't that mean Araya's in trouble too?"

Chiyu, who had been taken aback by the animalistic noise that had emerged from her friend, opened her mouth in surprise. "Ah. You're right."

Since the area had quieted down substantially, the two friends were able to clearly hear what the Vice-President said. "You are Araya-kun, right?"

Even the thuggish bully looked surprised and somewhat flattered that the famous Kuroyukihime knew his name.

"Arita-kun told me about you. About how you must have been mistakenly sent here from the Zoo. Tell me, which Primate exhibit do you hail from?"

One could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed. Araya gaped stupidly at her, along with Haru, who looked positively terrified. Naruto, however, threw his head back and howled with laughter. _I think I'm gonna like this girl after all!_

Finally, Araya got his speech back, as well as his temper. His fist clenched. "Why you…I'll kill you, pig!" As he reared back to punch Haru, Naruto ran forward, ready to intercept the bully.

However, just before he reached them, before the large fist hit his portly friend, Haru suddenly shouted, **"Burst Link!"**

Naruto stopped dead, frozen in shock. Burst Link. That strange, somewhat cool command that he had heard his sister use many years ago… How could Haru know it too? However, his wonderings were cut short as Araya's punch struck Haru directly in the cheek. Maybe the taller blond was much stronger than he looked, but as Naruto watched in dismay, Haru was lifted off his feet and flew over the table, crashing into Kuroyukihime with a loud bang.

"Haru!" Naruto dashed past Araya, who was still standing there, as if surprised by his own strength. Heedless of him, the blond knelt next to his friend and shook his shoulder. "Haru! Are you alright?"

"Ah, N-Naruto…" Haru sat up, rubbing his reddened cheek, "D-don't worry, it's not as bad as it-" his eyes widened and he whirled around. "Ah! S-senpai, are you alrigh-hii!" He broke off, his face white. Kuroyukihime lay slumped against the wall, her eyes closed and a trickle of blood running down her fair-skinned face. Haru trembled, horrified at what he'd inadvertently done, only to suddenly blink in surprise and relax slightly. Naruto noted that his friend was still connected to the beautiful Vice-President.

_She must be talking to him…which means she's not actually unconscious,_ the blond realized with a start. Looking around, he saw that Araya's face had gone as white as Haru's had just been, and he was shaking. _Ah. That's right, he just attacked a student and caused the injury of another in full view of the Social Cameras._ Despite himself, a vindictive smirk spread across Naruto's face. _Looks like you won't be bothering Haru anymore, damn Mandrill._

[Later, after school]

After the police had come and taken Araya away (apparently he'd also had a record of drugs and illegal programs, in addition to bullying) the group had gone to the infirmary. Chiyu fussed over Haru, much to the latter's annoyance, but Naruto could tell that he didn't dislike it that much. It turned out that Kuroyukihime's cut was nowhere near as serious as it seemed (facial and head wounds bled a lot), but Haru still prostrated himself at her feet and apologized. "It's nothing to apologize for," said the black-haired girl, smiling, "I knew something like that would happen, after all." She gently touched the bandage on Haru's left cheek. "In fact, you're the one who got the worst of it, Arita-kun."

While watching Haru burn like a marshmallow was entertaining, Naruto couldn't help but think back to the moment before Araya punched him. **Burst Link.** That was definitely what Haru had shouted. But what had it done? How did Haru even know that command? He suspected that it had something to do with the elegant second-year who had approached his friend in the Squash court.

'_Would you like to Accelerate even further?' What does it mean?! Aaah, I need to talk to Nee-chan about this!_

Finally, Chiyu and Naruto left Haru to rest in the infirmary and reluctantly went back to their own lessons. For the rest of the day, though, Naruto simply could not concentrate. The very subject that had caused his VR obsession had appeared in front of him, when he'd least expected it.

Finally, when class ended, the blond bid a distracted farewell to Chiyu and left quickly. Above all else, he had to get home to his sister.

Unlike Haru, Chiyu and their third friend Takumu, who all lived in the same apartment building, Naruto's house was situated in the opposite direction from the school. As a result, he almost never had anyone to walk home with him. Besides his skill at VR games, Naruto secretly envied Haru for being able to talk to his friends on the way home. While it wasn't much of a thing to be jealous about, the blond couldn't help but feel a bit empty when he walked home alone.

Fortunately, the walk home was only ten to fifteen minutes, so he didn't have long to brood. "I'm home," he called as he let himself in the door and took off his shoes.

"Welcome back," responded a female voice from the living room, "Mom's gone out for art supplies."

"Mm." Their mother, Uzumaki Kushina, liked to do calligraphy and painting in her spare time. Naruto wandered into the living room and sat down on the couch next to his sister. Uzumaki Tomori was the image of a pretty, yet serious student. She hadn't yet changed out of her school uniform, and her wavy blond hair cascaded messily down her back. Her brilliantly blue eyes were narrowed in thought as she studied a set of schoolbooks. Tomori was, at the age of eighteen, in her last year of high school and would be going on to college soon. "Hey Nee-chan, I need to talk to you."

She wrote down a note without looking up. "Mmhm. Talk away."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, but he plowed on. "Do you still have that copy of Brain Burst?"

The scratching of her pen stopped and Tomori looked up blearily. It seemed to take her a minute to understand what he'd said, but then she blinked and her expression cleared. "Brain Burst? Of course I do; you made me swear to hold onto it for you when you were six. Why?"

"I think I'm ready for it now."

"Oh?" she raised a neat eyebrow, "Do you now?"

"Yeah. I mean, I've been training for six years, and today I managed to beat Haru. I'd say I'm…ready to accelerate." He wasn't sure what made him say that last bit, but the reaction it got out of her spoke volumes.

Tomori's blue eyes, so like his own, suddenly bored into him and she sat up straighter. "Accelerate, huh?" she muttered. She leaned back in the couch and sighed. "Dunno who you heard that from, but if you know that much, then I guess you can at least try. Get a cable so we can Direct Connect."

"Eh?"

"The program can only be transferred directly through a Wired Connection," she explained, "Hurry up, now."

Nodding, Naruto ran up to his room, which was of course full of all sorts of technological paraphernalia. Rooting around in a box, he quickly found a Neuro Linker cable of an appropriate length and dashed back downstairs with it.

"Heh, I figured you'd have one," his sister snickered, plugging into the outlet on her own Neuro Linker. Wordlessly, Naruto took the other end and lid it into his own collar-like device. Instantly a warning window flashed up before his eyes, informing him that most of his Neuro Linker's protections were now compromised. It was a standard warning, so it didn't worry him. "Now, then…" muttered Tomori, her fingers swiping across the air, navigating some window that Naruto couldn't see, "Where is it…? Ah, here it is." Her index finger and thumb pinched something, before flicking it in Naruto's direction.

*Pon*

A simple command window popped up in the middle of his HUD. [Execute ? YES/NO]

Before he could touch YES, Tomori put a hand on his arm. "Naruto," she said, the usual casualness gone from her speech, "Before you do this, I need to warn you: if this works, your whole reality will be completely changed. Destroyed and reconstructed."

The younger sibling looked at his sister in surprise. Then he smiled ruefully. "Nee-chan…don't forget that I spent these six years in the virtual world. I don't have a lot of 'reality' to lose." So saying, he promptly hit YES.

Instantly, the window vanished in a shower of sparks, and a circle of flames roared up around Naruto. He yelped and pulled his feet up off the floor as if afraid the fire would singe them, but the flames quickly concentrated themselves in front of him, forming themselves into a title in angular English letters.

BRAIN BURST

_So this is it, huh? _Naruto thought, staring at the flaming letters, _Not a bad intro, I guess._

Underneath, an orange installation bar filled itself. Fortunately for the impatient boy, it only took thirty seconds. However, in this day and age, where such things took an instant to install, that was still slow. Brain Burst, it seemed, was quite a large application. Finally, the bar reached 100% and vanished, followed by the logo exploding into more flames. When they died down, there was another sentence in its place, again in English.

Welcome to the Accelerated World.

"Accelerated…World?" asked Naruto as it faded away. A groan made him look over in surprise. Tomori slumped down in her seat, letting out a long sigh. "N-Nee-chan, what're you doing?"

"Ah, sorry. I was so worried that you might not see it that I didn't realize I was holding my breath." She said, blushing slightly.

"Eh?"

Tomori straightened herself on the couch. "You saw those flames, right? Those were the program's way of testing your brain-speed reaction. If you'd failed, you wouldn't have even seen the logo, let alone the 'welcome screen.'"

Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine. However, it was not out of fear. "Wait. Does that mean…I passed?"

"Yuuup!" The blonde threw an arm around her younger brother's shoulder and hauled him over to her, "You are now the Accelerated World's newest Burst Linker! Congrats, Naruto-kun!"

He felt like warm balloon was blowing up inside his chest and he grinned widely. "Thanks, Onee-chan. So what does this program actually do."

Tomori glanced at the textbooks on the table and smiled mischievously. "I've got work to do, but an explanation is definitely possible." She smirked at Naruto. "How about it, Otouto? You wanna use that command that got you so wound up years ago?"

Naruto's eyes widened excitedly as he realized what she meant. Taking a deep breath, he joyfully shouted, **"Burst Link!"**

AN: And so ends the first chapter of my newest fic, CoG: Obsidian Fox. I know that I have a whole slew of other stuff to work on (sorry, Kurogane7~!), but I love Accel World so much that I just couldn't help it. Not only that, but I think this is actually the fastest that I've ever completed a chapter. By the way, this fic is based on the Accel WorldxNaruto Challenges 1 and 3 of Silvdra-zero. Thanks for letting me take this on and being so supportive of my ideas, Silvdra.

Anyway, time for my patented (not) Summary

1. Those of you who are familiar with Accel World might realize that I have moved the invention of the Neuro Linker back by a few years. This is intentional.  
2. Naruto's older sister, Tomori, is part of Challenge number 3. Her role, as you can see, is as Naruto's Parent.  
3. The reason Naruto didn't get Brain Burst when he was young is because his Brain-Speed reaction is too low. For those not familiar with Accel World and BB, there are two prerequisites to installing Brain Burst: wearing a Neuro Linker since birth, and having a Brain-Speed reaction of a certain level; that is to say, being very good at VR games. Naruto, as a kid, was not exactly a natural-born gamer like Haru.  
4. However, he takes it upon himself to 'train' his brain up to the speed that BB requires, never mind the fact that he doesn't know what that level is. The reason he waited 6 years is because he wanted to make absolutely sure he was prepared for it.  
5. This means that Naruto has almost no friends. On the other hand, I have thrown him a bone and made him friends with Haru and Chiyu. The reason I don't include Taku in that is merely because he and Naruto don't talk to each other that much.  
6. Being friends with Haru (who, in canon, is blindingly fast in VR stuff even when his Avatar is a literal pig) means that Naruto has a goal to look up to and try to surpass. This, I think, is something canon Naruto would do. Haru is not yet aware of why Naruto loves competing with him so much, but he is happy to have a friend who loves games as much as he does.  
7. Both Naruto and I are aware of how silly/strange his Avatar looks, but I honestly couldn't think of something spiral-y enough that Naruto wouldn't reject.  
8. I realized half-way through the chapter that Haru met Kuroyukihime and then received Brain Burst from her on separate days, but at that point, I just couldn't go back and rewrite it. So, another AU point, I guess.  
9. Of course, that also means, that Haru didn't ruin the lunch that Chiyu (coughlovinglycough) made for him, so I guess that's a plus.  
10. Naruto gets pretty shaken up when he hears Haru use the Burst Link command. After all, it's a phrase that he's always associated with something mysterious, something that his sister has been keeping secret for years.  
11. Sadly, Naruto does not live in the apartment building with Haru and Chiyu, so he always walks home alone.  
12. Unlike what the challenge suggested, Naruto and Tomori's parents are still alive and well. Granted, Minato's job often requires him to work late, but still.  
13. The reason I moved the Neuro Linker invention back a few years was so Tomori would be old enough to go to college. Part of the challenge was that she disappear at some point.  
14. I hope I made the installation scene cool enough. Yeah yeah, you can laugh at the idea, but Brain Burst can really change a person's whole life. Look at Haru, and how he used it to put Araya behind bars.  
15. Needless to say, Naruto is thrilled that all those years of game-training has paid off.

If you have any questions, leave a review or send me a PM. If you have a question in a review, _please_ make sure it's signed so I can read it.

Anyway, that's all for now. See you next time!

Next chapter: Nightmare (Acceleration)

North South out.


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